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Post by BBFran on Feb 21, 2011 21:45:23 GMT -6
I stopped posting in late December because I was tired of the manic-depressive rants that were becoming too common here. I think it's time to come back.
Yes, we stumbled out of the blocks. But a basketball season is a marathon, not a sprint. If you were really paying attention these last few years you could see the character of our coaches and players. These guys weren't going to fall apart. This team tried our patience, but there was never a reason to give up on them.
Whatever happens Thursday and Saturday, we are where everyone wants to be in the last week of the season. We control our own destiny. Rob and his coaches and the players have been building for this opportunity year after year, and not just building a team -- but building the program with high character and sustained high impact recruiting. This is a great group of kids who have worked hard from the first day of practice for Italy, through all the exhausting runs up the hill, through a tough early stretch when they were trying to figure out how to integrate some vital new faces, to nearly being given up on by their own fans. This stretch run of seven straight wins (to me, the Buffalo game was ludicrously irrelevant and need never be mentioned again) is the culmination of all that effort, and now the reward is that they get to play for a championship.
Win or lose, I couldn't be prouder of these guys, coaches and players alike. You wanted the excitement back, Panther fans? You got it!
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Post by Hack on Feb 21, 2011 21:47:30 GMT -6
Great. Second consecutive year, you take a hiatus and they go on a roll. Last year when you came back, they lost. If they lose, I'm totally pinning this on you.  |
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Post by DunneDeal on Feb 21, 2011 22:07:36 GMT -6
If they lose, I'm totally pinning this on you. Im with Hack.... |
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Post by nohopspanther on Feb 21, 2011 23:54:27 GMT -6
If they lose, I'm totally pinning this on you. Im with Hack.... Me three! |
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Post by Super King on Feb 22, 2011 0:06:48 GMT -6
Jeez Fran, I was going to wait until after the season to brag about how I was right
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Post by uwmbacker24 on Feb 22, 2011 8:22:49 GMT -6
Fran I know you are a die hard but either stay with the ship is sinking or jump off completely, having said that we need all the die hards we can get, welcome back.
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Post by BBFran on Feb 22, 2011 8:35:09 GMT -6
I think you misunderstood my absence. It had nothing to do with the team -- which I always support -- and everything to do with the sad tenor of this board when things aren't going well for the team. Now that the team has done the hard work of silencing the doubters and dead-enders, I have the easy job of being my usual enthusiastic, supportive, "apologist" self with an annoying habit of seeing the forest through the trees.  Now we just need victorpanther to come back and the place will be a regular campfire cookout.  |
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Post by jhart05 on Feb 22, 2011 9:27:50 GMT -6
I fully understood why you left. Same reason I stopped posting for awhile.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Feb 22, 2011 9:36:47 GMT -6
Bottom line:
I'm proud of the players and coaches for their resiliency and hope they understand how much their fans -- those that follow them day-in and day-out -- care about them.
"We're nobody's underdog."
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Post by FTA1982 on Feb 22, 2011 9:39:50 GMT -6
It's no different year to year with Fran regarding this board. When the times get tough on this board, he bails because he doesn't have a leg to stand on. When the team decides to put it together, he brings the "I told you so."
I'm just happy this program is relevant again in February/March.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Feb 22, 2011 9:45:34 GMT -6
"I'm just happy this program is relevant again in February/March."
Amen to that! That's two years running; looks like the start of a trend.
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Post by BBFran on Feb 22, 2011 10:51:32 GMT -6
It's no different year to year with Fran regarding this board. When the times get tough on this board, he bails because he doesn't have a leg to stand on. When the team decides to put it together, he brings the "I told you so." I'm just happy this program is relevant again in February/March. Excellent!!! I love it when the negative nancys get back on the bandwagon. Happens about this time every year when their predictions of doom have been scuttled yet again. You know it will only last until the next time the team fails to meet their own personal standards, but at least we get some relief from the negativity. I follow sports because I enjoy it. It's a great respite from the stresses and troubles of the real world. It's great to be able to support good people like Rob and his coaches and his kids, to help them along, to cheer for them. It's great to see how this program has lifted itself up, and how it can help lift the whole University. So why would I want to hang around this board when the glass half empty guys are pissing and moaning and b****ing and throwing tantrums and demanding that people be fired, blah, blah, etc.? What enjoyment is there in that worldview, fta? Tantrum throwing should stop when you're 7, but somehow sports message boards attract people who never stop throwing them. I can't stop anyone from throwing childish tantrums, but I don't have to stay in the same room while it's happening. In the meantime, since the screaming has stopped at least temporarily, you'll just have to put up with me again. |
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Post by buppie05 on Feb 22, 2011 14:32:44 GMT -6
I would rather put up with Fran than not have him around. This board has been a great place to find like minded panther fans, and I'm glad I went on to that 3rd page of google results when searching Milwaukee Panthers back in January of 08.
No apologies for being negative though, because our early season performance was downright sad. This late season run brings credibility to all of us "negative nancys" because we knew this team had a lot of talent and was grossly under their potential earlier in the year. Hell that game against Depaul was the sloppiest and hardest to watch panther game I have run across in my life.
All I ask is that we compete for the HL title every year, and so for that I am very pleased. We didn't do ourselves or our conference members any favors by performing so poorly in the non-con and then turning it up in conference play. If the horizon is a 1-2 bid league, we may have only ourselves to blame, because this really is a strong league this year.
As mentioned though, all that matters now is that we control our own destiny, and this has been well hell of a conference run to be a part of.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Feb 22, 2011 14:51:16 GMT -6
"If the horizon is a 1-2 bid league, we may have only ourselves to blame."
It's worth mentioning that four combined NCAA and NIT bids would be a very definite step in the right direction.
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